Forward slush

08 March 2009 09:44

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Sunderland 1-1 Tottenham
Soccer Saturday analysis
Phil Thompson was not impressed with the displays of the strikers in Sunderland's draw with Tottenham.
In Saturday's only Premier League game, Spurs managed to snatch a late point at the Stadium of Light when Robbie Keane fired home in the final minute to cancel out Kieran Richardson's third-minute opener.
The two teams boast some high-profile attacking talent with the likes of Keane and Darren Bent starting for Tottenham, while Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse led the line for the home side - but Thompson told Soccer Saturday that the quartet were not particularly impressive.
He said: "Keane and Bent up front were not great - and the same with Jones and Cisse for Sunderland.
Cisse had three really good chances in the game, but Darren Bent probably had the best chance of the lot from the inside left position, through on his own and he absolutely ballooned it over the bar.
"Kenwyne Jones was poor. It was one of those days when he got out of the wrong side of the bed.
"Nothing happened for him, while Cisse had good chances even though he didn't play particularly well.
"But they took Cisse off and I'd have done it the other way around. He was the one who was getting in the positions.
"However, the defenders did very well. Ledley King was good, Jonathan Woodgate was good - and also Danny Collins and Tal Ben-Haim at the other end."
This was Tottenham's third match in six days - following the Carling Cup final and the midweek win over Middlesbrough - and Thompson said there were signs of fatigue among the Spurs ranks.
He noted that the full-backs failed to get forward throughout the game and while he disagreed with Harry Redknapp's post-match comments that Spurs dominated the game, he did say they deserved a draw.
"They had a lot of possession but they were going nowhere with it," Thompson said of Spurs.
"They started off very poorly in their third game in six days and a few of them looked very tired.
"Even Pascal Chimbonda, who hasn't played, hardly got over the half-way line and Vedran Corluka didn't bother getting forward either.
"But a draw was a fair result. It would have been harsh on Spurs if they hadn't got anything."